LA PMA punk duo No Age played with an extra member at SXSW last weekend: Cundo Bermudez (Wrangler Brutes, Nazti Skinz), who worked as the recording engineer on some of the duo’s early 12-inches. Contrary to a report on the Los Angeles Times music blog, drummer Dean Spunt told Gossip Wolf that Bermudez is only a temporary touring member, but they are “hoping to find a permanent third.” May we suggest Craigslist’s “Casual Encounters” section?
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Peaches‘s video for “Billionaire” (featuring Shunda K from Yo Majesty), directed by Ssion front man/midwestern queer icon Cody Critcheloe and shot in his Kansas City loft in one day in December, debuted this week. Critcheloe described it to Gossip Wolf as a “militant feminist take on The Wizard of Oz” and added that “it’s sort of a parody of being ‘styled’ or ‘styling’ . . . like if Lady Gaga was on crack and had a $10 budget to work with and her Haus of Gaga creative team consisted of stoned teenagers.”
One-man band Hawnay Troof (aka Vice Cooler) performed only once at this year’s SXSW, but it was certainly memorable. After he took his act into the audience at an outdoor KXLU/olFactory Records party, Cooler was nearly upstaged by an excited bulldog who had been wandering around the show. Ever the professional, Cooler kept performing even as the dog nipped, clawed, and humped him.
Former Chicago DIY pop wunderkind Graham Smith has been releasing records as Kleenex Girl Wonder since he was in high school; the band hit the seven-year mark last month. Smith has just released his tenth long-player, Accept the Mystery, under his own name; it’s available as a paid download via his Web site, kgw.me. Physical copies will ship to record stores at the end of March.
